The Story Begins - Original Pilot
by Marzena
Summary: As some of you might know, in the original pilot of Defenders of the Earth, Flash has a daughter and Phantom has a son (can be seen as an extra on the DVDs). This is my take on the original pilot, centered around the Gordon family.
1. Escape

**Explanation/Plot:** Did you know that in the original pilot (can be seen as an extra on the DVDs) Rick and Jedda had their genders swapped? Rick was originally Jedda Gordon, Flash's blonde psychic daughter, and Jedda was Kit Walker, Phantom's son. So what if this had really happened? We don't know much about their intended characteristics although the short 'original pilot' scene and the first-ever produced episodes 'Root of Evil' and 'Revenge of Astra' do give us some clues, mostly where Jedda is concerned. In 'Revenge of Astra' she's far more powerful than usual and she's fighting Flash's nemesis Astra which doesn't make sense unless you know that Jedda was originally intended to be Flash's daughter. In 'Root of Evil' we see Jedda acting a bit off-character – probably because they storyboard featured Jedda Gordon and they turned her into Jedda Walker for the episode without bothering to change her unusual attitude. The biggest clue is that Jedda Walker walks into the ballroom on Flash Gordon's arm – a scene clearly intended for Jedda Gordon! So I'm trying to write Jedda Gordon (and Kit Walker, but mainly it's centered around Flash's daughter) into the pilot. I've given her a different name though because there's only one Jedda for me and that's Jedda Walker ;)

**Disclaimer:** The DoE characters do not belong to me and I'm not making any money with this story. I'm just having fun.

**Escape**

"You should drink this, Mr Gordon", the little Asian boy insisted, holding out a cup of steaming hot tea. "It will make you feel better."

Feel better? No, surely a cup of tea would not make him feel better. But his hands reached out anyway and took the cup from the little boy's hands, desperately clinging to it. The tea was still way too hot to drink it, but Flash Gordon didn't care. He wasn't thirsty at all. He was needed to hold on to something for a minute, even if it was just a stupid cup of tea.

"Thanks, but... I really need to go back. I..."

"What you need most right now is rest", Mandrake firmly stated, gently pushing the young boy aside and resting his hand on Flash's broad shoulders. "It's been a long and exhausting day and a long and exhausting travel. If you storm off anywhere like that, you most likely won't make it very far."

"Well, I'll have to!" Abruptly, Flash stood up, impatiently placing the cup of tea on the small table in front of the sofa he'd been lying on. "My wife and daughter are prisoners of this galaxy's greatest tyrant, Ming the Merciless. I will not leave them up there on Mongo any second longer than I absolutely have to!"

"Of course not, old friend." Mandrake wasn't trying to actively holding him back, but he was still blocking his way. "But you crashed your ship on my front lawn. Lothar is already on it, doing the necessary repairs. As soon as he's done with that, he and I will gladly accompany you to Mongo to rescue Dale and your daughter. But we need a ship for that, don't we?"

"We do", Flash slowly agreed, trying to think of other options. The monstrous headache, a result of the crash, and him having been unconscious for a while, had made this memory of the condition of the spaceship a bit hazy. But of course it would be damaged. But where to get another ship that fast? He was a space pilot and explorer, but he didn't work for the government, so getting them to do an official rescue mission to Mongo would probably take longer than having Lothar repair the ship. The officials probably wouldn't just storm off to Mongo at all but rather try to negotiate with Ming. And that wouldn't make things any better for Dale and Duffy!

"The repairs won't take that long", Mandrake assured him. "You know Lothar's an expert mechanic. If anyone can repair your ship in no time it's him."

"I really hope so, Mandrake. Ming would do anything to get back at me, and now, with Dale and Duffy in his hands, there's no way in knowing what he might do!"

There was a cry of distress from the little Asian boy. Both Flash and Mandrake had almost forgotten he was in the living room with them.

"No – he wouldn't, would he...!?" the little one cried out.

"Of course not, Kshin", Mandrake tried to calm the little one down. "Ming's just waiting for Flash to make his next move. He expects him to come back to Mongo to save Dale and young Daphne and when he does, he will have a trap ready. A trap which we will avoid falling into, of course."

That seemed to calm Kshin down, but not Flash. Nothing would calm him down until Dale and Duffy were both safely back on Earth. Ming hated Flash – he would do everything in his power to make things most unpleasant for Flash's wife and daughter.

_Just hold on a little longer, you two, I'm coming to get you_, he told them in his thoughts, picturing the last time he saw them, laser guns pointed at their heads and chains being put on their wrists and ankles. Dale had put on a good fight which had allowed him to escape. And he would have taken her and Duffy right with him if not just in that very minute, even more of Ming's troops had arrived.

"Have a rest, Flash", Mandrake quietly told him after sending Kshin out of the room for more tea, despite the fact that Flash hadn't even touched his cup yet. "You're going to need it."

"I can't have a rest now", he protested. "We need to make plans, we need to strategize, we need to..."

"Lothar can do wonders, my friend, but he's no magician. Excellent work takes time. So there's enough time for you to rest a bit and for us to talk plans and strategies in my office later. Ming's expecting you, Flash. So we have to find a way to work around that."

Indeed they had. With a sigh, Flash sat down on the sofa again, grabbing the cup of tea once more. At least now it wasn't so damn hot anymore.

"Now that's better." Mandrake nodded in approval.

Flash didn't answer. Closing his eyes, he took a large sip of tea but he barely tasted anything despite the fact that Kshin had accidentally poured way too much sugar into it. Instead, his thoughts were with both Dale and Duffy, and again he was talking to them in his head.

_Don't worry. And don't do anything stupid. I'm coming for you as soon as I can, I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you._

**Author's Note:**

It took me a while to find a new name for Jedda Gordon. I was thinking Dale (since it's her mom's name) but I never liked the name, so from Dale I got to Daphne but somehow although the name seemed kinda right, it needed a nickname. Both LJ and Kit had nicknames as well. In the end, she turned out to be called Duffy which just happened without me giving it much thought. So there, meet Duffy Gordon.


	2. Prisoners

**Prisoners**

The pale young blonde girl was shaking badly, her big deep blue eyes blurry from crying and her long blonde hair an unkempt mess. The woman next to her at least tried to hold herself together. There were no tears in her blue eyes and she was comforting the girl and at the same time trying to keep both of them warm for in the dimly lit cell the temperatures were rather frosty.

"Don't be afraid, Duffy. You know your father will come back for us. And in the meantime, we will do our best to stay alive", the woman finally spoke, hugging the young girl even tighter.

"But how?" the girl called Duffy whined. "I mean, how can he rescue us? He doesn't know where they brought us – he'll never find us down here! And even if he does, he won't make it past all those guards and... and then he'll... he'll..."

"No, he will not!" her mother firmly assured her. "This is your first ever mission, Daphne. You haven't seen your father in hopeless situations like this one as often as I have. You haven't been his partner on dangerous missions for many years. But I have. He's Flash Gordon, honey. He will have us out of here in no time, you'll see."

"It's a trap, mom", Duffy cried, wiping her eyes. "Ming will wait for daddy to come back to rescue us. We're nothing but pawns in his evil plan. And even worse – this whole mess is totally my fault!"

"Duffy, it's not", Dale Gordon said, smiling at her daughter who looked a lot like both her parents with her mother's thick blonde hair, dimples and cute nose and her father's chin and eyes.

"Yes, it is", Duffy insisted. "I wanted to have a go at the ship, I crashed it, we got caught and were taken prisoners! Tell me again how this is not my fault?!"

"It was risky of Flash to let you fly the ship when we were so close to Mongo. And besides that – you were doing a fine job, Duffy, until Ming's forces were after us. And they could have damaged the ship and forced us to crash in the icy wastelands of Mongo even with your father as the pilot. There is nothing you're to blame for, darling. If anything, I'm very proud of how you were trying to put the ship down and how you were helping us to fight of the ice robots and frostmen. If you hadn't brought her down so nicely, your father wouldn't have been able to escape for then the ship would have been nothing more than a pile of junk."

"Maybe." Duffy bit her lip, like she always did when she was either very nervous or thinking very hard. "But if I had better control of my powers, I might have been able to do more."

Duffy had been born with a special ability – she apparently was a psychic, most likely due to the fact that she had been conceived right after Flash and Dale had been prisoners on a certain planet in a far away corner of the galaxy where the overlords had tried to create an army of supersoldiers, using a special serum that could be found in a rare blue flower. Both Flash and Dale had been victims of the experiment, but the effects hadn't lasted very long. But their daughter had been born different and special. But Duffy being Duffy, she only experimented with her powers when she felt like it and apart from that she hadn't shown much interest in them at all, especially after being labeled 'Freak' now and then at school.

"If you seriously interested in learning more about working your powers, we will get right onto that as soon as we're back at home", Dale replied. "But right now, I can only tell you again and again that none of this is in any way your fault, Daphne. And..."

She stopped, suddenly hearing the heavy steps of the approaching ice robot guards. Maybe this was their chance to escape. Dale hadn't said anything to Duffy so far, but she wouldn't put it past Ming to separate the two of them for some kind of cruel revenge. Maybe it was time to save themselves before things got worse. And save Flash from being forced to surrender by Ming. After all, Ming had two hostages. He had the upper hand right now, and he knew it.

"Mom!?"

"Stay where you are, Duffy. I've got a plan!"

Her teeth clenched together, Dale hurried over to the shadows and pressed herself to the icy walls of their uncomfortable prison cell. She'd dealt with those robots before. They were just dumb and did what they were told to do. There were a few, like Ming's commander in chief, Garax, who truly were somewhat intelligent and those you had to look out for. But the rest of them – if Garax wasn't with them, she felt certain she could handle them and, more importantly, trick them.

Thankfully, it wasn't Garax. Three or four robots gathered outside of the icy cell, seeing nothing but the pale and weeping Duffy.

"The woman escaped", one of the robots announced in his rather strange, monotonous voice. "There's just the girl in here. How did this happen? We need to notify the Emperor at once!"

"Search the cell!" another robot said. "If she's only hiding, there's no need to upset the Emperor!"

One of the robots unlocked the cell and Dale knew she had to do something quickly or she wouldn't have a chance to do anything at all. She ran and tackled the robot, sending his laser gun flying right across the cell.

"Duffy! Get the weapon!" she cried, wrestling with two large ice robots at once. Maybe she wouldn't be able to get away, but she would make damn sure that Duffy would!

Duffy whirled around and threw herself at the weapon. One of the robots did the same but Duffy was a lot more agile and reached it faster, pointing it at the surprised robot. But at the same time, the other robots pointed their laser guns directly at Dale.

"Mom!"

"Run, Duffy!" Dale shouted over to her, and her ton of voice made it very clear that she expected her daughter to obey without questions. "Run!"

For a moment, Duffy just stood there, frozen, the heavy gun in her hands, her big blue eyes wide open. "I'm not going without you, Mom!" she finally shouted back, staying exactly where she was.

"You have to save yourself for now, Duffy. Please, there is no time for discussion! I can take care of myself! But you need to get out of here! I love you, Duffy, and I beg you, for once, just do what you're told! Go!"

Duffy was still hesitating but then, finally, she gave in. "But I'm going to get you help, mom, I swear I will!" she cried before taking a shot at the nearest robot.

There was a struggle and the robot blew to bits and Dale, at the same time, did her best to keep the other ones occupied so they would concentrate on her rather than trying to chase her daughter or force Duffy to come back by using Dale as a hostage. And while Duffy ran out of the cell and down the icy corridor, firing laser shots left and right at the robot guards, Dale was forced to watch her go and a rather weird sensation overcame her. As if she wasn't ever going to see her daughter again...

Ming had Dale strapped to some kind of machine, and from the look on her rather white face she was already going through some immense pain. Horrified, Duffy stood at a small side entrance. She'd found this place by accident, having been lost in the enormous icy maze downstairs for ages. Probably more than a day had passed by now, and she was hungry, tired and just really, really exhausted from all the worrying and constantly being on the run, often being chased down by Ming's troops and if not being chased down, then being terrified, hiding out somewhere in the cold. And now she'd found her mother again, but also the evil Emperor Ming and quite a lot of guards and...

"Either you're going to tell me where I can find your husband or I'm going to force you to tell me what I want to know, Dale Gordon!" Ming snapped at his prisoner, his dark eyes cold and cruel, and his voice without any kind of emotions. It was the first time Duffy had actually ever seen Ming in person, and she didn't like the green-skinned Emperor one bit.

Dale didn't speak up although Duffy secretly urged her to. _Keep talking to him, mom. Keep talking to him until I can figure out how to get your out of there!_

"You're not going to talk, are you, earthling?!" Ming spat at poor Dale. "Well, that's very honorable of you, but it won't save your precious husband. With this machine, I can force you to tell me everything I want to know!"

And without giving any further warning, Ming suddenly pressed a button and the machine Dale was strapped to came to life.

Dale started to scream, her blue eyes wide open in horror, her whole body shaking, blood running out of her nose. It was the most horrifying thing Duffy had ever seen. She started to scream too, paralyzed with fear, panic and terror. But all Ming heard were Dale's screams, and then, suddenly, those stopped, and her lifeless body collapsed in the seat of the machine. Within less than a minute, Ming had taken Dale Gordon's life.

Duffy sank to her knees. She felt sick, like she was going to have to vomit any second now. She was shaking badly and she had to put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from making any noises.

"Maybe I shouldn't have used the inquisitor on full power", Ming said to the tall robot next to him in an horrifying non-caring voice. "But never mind. If this doesn't bring Flash Gordon to his knees, then nothing will. Make sure she's really dead, Garax, and then come with me. Flash Gordon will be back soon, and we've still got work to do!"

When they all had left the room, Duffy stumbled out of her hiding place and towards her mother's lifeless body, dropping on her knees in front of her, gently touching her face and then grabbing her wrist, trying to feel for a pulse. But there was no pulse. There was also no heartbeat, and Dale Gordon didn't react to anything Duffy did or said anymore.

If anyone had come in here, Duffy would have been done for, but nobody came. Later Duffy realized why – they were too busy fighting Flash and his friends. But back then she didn't know her father was close. In fact, she'd never felt so alone in her life. And so she just sat there, hugging her mother's body, trying to sob as quietly as possible. That was how Flash, Mandrake and Lothar found her.

"Duffy! Dale!" Flash ran towards them but suddenly paused, taking in the whole situation – the lifeless Dale with blood smeared on her face and Duffy kneeling in front of her, hysterically sobbing. No. No, no, no. Just no. No.

"Dale! DALE!"

"Dad... Daddy, she's... she's..."

Slowly, Flash sank down on his knees too, right next to his daughter, who was now desperately clinging to him.

"Dale, no, no..."

Carefully taking his dead wife into his arms, Flash was now crying too. And although the Gordon family was together again, things would never again be as they had been before. Because with Dale Gordon, the heart and the soul of the family just had left them.

**Author's Note:**

I had to take the liberty to explain Duffy's powers. I hope it sounds at least somewhat plausible. It's easier to explain Jedda Walker having powers because the Phantom does have powers too. But Flash and Dale don't, so I needed a reason for their daughter being so powerful. And she must be powerful, Astra states that in "The Revenge of Astra". But she's also inexperienced – in those few episodes where it's clear that Jedda Walker is still based on Jedda Gordon, the others often have to tell her to use her powers, and in the original pilot scene Jedda Gordon nearly faints after using telekinesis and needs to be supported by both Kit and LJ.


	3. Funeral

**Funeral**

"That we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us."

Daphne Gordon let the words of the priest fade out on her. She didn't want to hear them. She didn't want to face this new reality where they were burying her mother deep down in the ground of the Central City cemetery. This just wasn't right. This just wasn't real. This just wasn't happening.

"But seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean..."

What was that old goat talking about anyway? Like death was a good thing. Like she shouldn't be sad, like she shouldn't mourn. Like death wasn't the end. But it was! Duffy Gordon would never ever see her mother again and while there were tears streaming down her cheeks, she glared at the old priest for suggesting that she hadn't suffered a great loss and that she shouldn't see death as something horrible.

Her father didn't look too comfortable either, dressed all in black instead of his signature color, red. There were tears in his eyes and he kept staring towards the deep dark hole in which they had lowered Dale Gordon's coffin.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal..."

A heartache no one could heal. Yes, that was a little bit more like it. Sniffing, Duffy moved closer towards her father who, without looking up, put an arm around her, holding her close, like he wanted to shelter her from all of this. But he couldn't. Nobody could shelter her from reality.

The others were here, too. Her parents' friends. She didn't know them very well. Mandrake the Magician, yes, she remembered meeting him once. She'd been a little girl and had been sitting on his lap, giggling at all the magic tricks he had performed especially for her. But the others? The little boy she'd never met before. The huge black guy was Mandrake's close friend, but she didn't recall meeting him before, and neither did she know his son, Lothar Junior, LJ for short. She didn't feel very comforted by their presence but she was still glad they were here. It certainly meant a lot to her father. Back in the day, he and Mandrake had often worked together. And although they hadn't seen much of each other during the last few years, they were still good friends.

The priest was still talking. There were a lot of words like 'death' and 'life' and 'mourn' and 'God' in his sentences. But it meant nothing at all to Duffy. And from what she could see, it meant nothing at all to her father, either. This priest was talking about Dale Gordon as if he'd personally known her when he had never ever met her until she was already dead. Someone else should say something.

Then Mandrake finally stepped forward as if he had read Duffy's thoughts. He didn't wear his hat today, and his dark eyes were filled with sadness. He then spoke with much warmth about Dale Gordon who he'd known for years now, and his words touched Duffy far more than those the priest had said before. He spoke about Dale as a person, but also about Dale as a mother and a wife, as a partner to go on missions and share adventures with, as a friend who would never leave your side, a woman worth knowing and a woman standing up for herself and her family, for putting others first, a true heroine, someone who would always be in their hearts and who's leave a big empty hole now that she was gone forever. Someone worth remembering, someone they would never ever forget. And Duffy, picturing her beautiful, kind and brave mother, felt her heart going out to Mandrake for saying things like that.

There was no one here from either Flash's or Dale's families except Duffy. There weren't any siblings, and Flash's parents both weren't that young anymore. They lived right across the country and they couldn't be expected to travel that far. Dale's mother had died a few years ago of cancer and Dale's father had taken seriously ill after hearing the horrible news and still was at the hospital. So it was only a very small group that was in attendance at Dale Gordon's funeral, consisting of Flash and Duffy, Mandrake and Lothar and their kids and a few of Dale's old friends from school and former co-workers.

"We need to say goodbye, sweetheart", her father gently whispered in her ear, his bright blue eyes and his cheeks wet from crying.

Startled, Duffy looked up and realized that it was time to walk over to the grave and say their goodbyes. She had to take a deep breath to calm herself. To go over there, to stand there, to look down at that coffin... it would make it all so real, so horribly, horribly real...

She swallowed hard and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other, stepping closer towards the open grave. And that's when she felt her father walking along beside her, his strong arm still wrapped around her. He was holding her close and somehow she knew he wouldn't ever let go of her.

"I'm right beside you, sweetie. Just take it easy and take your time."

"Thank you", she mumbled, stepping close to the edge, her vision blurring again when she looked down on the white coffin.

There they stood, father and daughter, side by side, looking down into the open ground, the sky gray and cloudy above them. But they didn't notice that, and neither did they notice they chilly wind, or Mandrake hugging his little boy, or Dale's old friends weeping into their handkerchiefs.

Glancing at her father, Duffy noticed that he was saying a silent goodbye to the love of his life. Concentrating, Duffy did the same. There was so much she wanted to tell her mother, so much she needed to say, so much to apologize for, so much she wished to share. But in the end, she chose to keep it simple. Somehow, Dale Gordon would know what she wanted to tell her, and somehow, Dale Gordon would understand everything, even the things she didn't say. So a simple, heartfelt goodbye just felt like the right thing to do.

"I love you, Mom", were the last words she whispered, and then she and her father stepped away from the grave, leaving Dale Gordon's body behind in the dark, dark ground.

**Author's Note:**

The things the priest said I mostly took from a funeral quote site.

Although a funeral scene wasn't necessary in this little piece of work, I just felt like Dale deserved one. She never had one on the show.


	4. Comfort

**Comfort**

"You need to talk to Daphne, Flash", the Phantom gently reminded him. "She's obviously grieving, and grieving's good. But this isn't healthy anymore. When's the last time anyone actually saw her?"

Flash looked around. Everyone was clearing the table in Mandrake's big dining room – everyone but Duffy. Ever since the funeral, Duffy had barely left her room and often didn't even bother to answer when Flash tried to talk to her from outside her door. He decided that he would give her all the time she needed to properly grieve and miss her mother. After all, Flash himself was grieving and hurting, too. But maybe the Phantom was right. This wasn't the way. The best way to help Duffy was to get her to live again.

"I tried to talk her into coming down for dinner but she said she wasn't hungry." Flash gave a sigh. He had absolutely no clue on how to handle Duffy. Dale had been really good with that, and usually, when Duffy had given her father a hard time, Dale had intervened, smoothing out the path for them. But Dale wasn't around anymore. Flash was the only parent Duffy had left and he needed to start doing a better job.

"This isn't good for her", the Phantom repeated quietly. "You know it's not."

"I know. But this isn't going to be a walk in the park." Sighing, Flash turned to the table where Duffy's plate was still sitting, untouched. He started to fill it up with rice, sauce and chicken. No matter what she'd said, she probably was really hungry.

He then left the dining hall and went up to Duffy's room. Mandrake had provided them all with rooms of their own in his rather big mansion. And ever since Duffy had made that room hers, she'd barely ever left it.

"Duffy? Are you there?" Gentle, he knocked at the door, telling himself that this time, he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Go away!" she cried once again, like she'd done so many times before. But this time he was going nowhere. Duffy had lost her mother but she needed her father, now more than anything.

"I'm not going away this time, Duffy. In fact, I'm bringing you food, and I'm coming in, whether you want me to or not. We have to talk, Duff. Now."

She didn't even answer and he tried the door. He had expected it to be locked but to his surprise, it opened wide. Maybe Duffy had wanted him to come and reach out to her. And when he saw her sitting in the middle of the unmade bed, her hair hanging messy around her shoulders and her eyes swollen from crying so much, his heart went out to her. He kicked the door shut, put the tray down on her messy desk, stepped over the half-unpacked suitcases and sat next to his daughter on the bed. And the minute he did that, Duffy flung herself into his arms, holding him close.

Flash scolded himself for not reaching out to her sooner. But he was new at this single parent thing. He had been dealing with so much sorrow and grief and sadness himself, he had been in desperate need for just being Flash Gordon, grieving husband. But not at Duffy's expense. Never again at Duffy's expense.

"You can't lock yourself away up here, Duffy", he gently reminded her. "This is not what your mother would have wanted you to do. She would want you to be happy."

"She's gone, Daddy! How can I be happy ever again!?" Duffy cried, wiping her eyes.

He had asked himself that very question as well, and he had no real answer to that. He didn't feel like he would ever be happy again. And nor did he want to – not without Dale by his side, sharing his happiness. But Dale was no more. But there was still Duffy, and if not for himself, then it would be Duffy he would be happy for. Stubborn, hot-headed and sometimes rather silly little Duffy who could be so spoiled and sulky at times and so cheerful and carefree at others. It was such a pity that Dale wouldn't be around to watch Duffy growing up.

"Life will go on, Duffy", he quietly promised his daughter. "Maybe not today or tomorrow, maybe not even next week. But I can tell you, it will go on. We will never forget your mother – she'll be with us, every step of the way. She will always be a huge part of our lives. There will be days when we look back with sadness, and there will be days when we look back with happy memories."

"Right now I feel so empty, and so alone", Duffy admitted sadly. "And I feel like everything is my fault. If it just had been you and Mom on that mission, then..."

"Duffy! Never, even for one second, think that!" Flash looked at his daughter, horrified. "It would have ended the same way, Duffy – we were attacked, taken by surprise, we ended up being separated and Ming got his revenge. If anything, it's my fault because it's me Ming hates so much."

"I saw her die", Duffy whispered. "It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen. I've still got nightmares about it."

Flash held her closer as if trying to shelter her from all the cruelty she had had to deal with lately. "You shouldn't have witnessed this. You should have to go through this – any of this! But know this, Duffy, you're not alone in this. I'm right there with you, sweetie."

"What are we going to do now, Dad?" Duffy asked, resting her head against his shoulders.

"We're going to live our lives as best as we can, Duffy. And somewhere along the way, we're going to bring Ming to justice for what he's done to your mother. And you have to admit, there are worse places to live than Mandrake's mansion, aren't there?"

"Well, I guess..." Duffy even managed a small smile as she looked around her huge, untidy bedroom with the big windows facing the large gardens.

"And I think it's about time to come out here and get to know the others, especially the other kids. This will do you good. And I won't have to worry about you spending so much time on your own in here." He gave her an encouraging smile. "It's not going to be an easy time for either of us, Duff. But the two of us, we help each other through this, okay? We're still a family. And I know that even through we cannot see her, your mom is right here with us."

"I miss her like crazy", Duffy admitted, sighing. "And I missed you too, Dad."

"I missed you as well, Duff", Flash replied, holding his precious daughter, Dale's precious daughter, close.

Dale was gone and nothing in his world could ever bring her back. But Duffy was still alive, and he would make damn sure she was staying alive – and he would also make sure she had a future to look forward to, which meant Ming the Merciless was never to gain control of Earth. And it also meant that Flash Gordon was going to do his best in giving his daughter the family she deserved by being the best dad he could be.


	5. School

**School**

"So... this is Daphne. And Duffy, these are Kit Walker, LJ and Kshin."

The introduction was a bit awkward since Duffy, Kit, LJ and Kshin had been living in the mansion together for a week or so. But all Duffy had done until now was avoiding everybody and locking herself in her new room, mourning her mother. There had been almost no interaction between the four kids. But Flash was desperate to change that. Duffy needed friends and some kind of social life now more than anything.

Duffy stood next to her father, eyeing Kit, LJ and Kshin, who were standing opposite of them, all looking a bit unsure of what to say. After all, Duffy's mother just passed away. They were probably wondering how to talk to her without upsetting her. Duffy took a deep breath. Maybe she should say something first.

"Hi", she managed to get out, which wasn't much, but at least it was a start.

"Hi", the three of them said back – Kshin, a little Asian boy of ten with a mop of dark hair on his head, and two teenagers of her own age – LJ, tall, dark and athletic, and Kit, broad-shouldered, his serious face sunburned, with dark kinky hair and dark eyes. They all looked nice enough to be friends with. And she really wanted to be friends with them.

"So." LJ was the one speaking up first, grinning at her. "You're Duffy."

Blushing, she shook her mass of thick blonde hair. Of course her dad had to introduce her with her old pet name. So typical. He just didn't really get how embarrassing this was.

"Actually, it's Daphne", she hastily tried to explain. "Duffy's just some silly pet name my parents gave me when I was little."

"I think it's a cute name", Kit now said, winking at her. "And it does really suit you, Duffy."

Duffy groaned and rolled her yes. "The name is going to stick, isn't it?" she cried out.

"Probably", Kit grinned. "But look at us, we've got nicknames as well. I'm really Christopher, and LJ here's really Lothar Junior..."

"Which I really don't want to be called", LJ interjected, and now that the ice between them was broken, he was laughing out loud.

"Well, I don't have a nickname yet", Kshin joined in, clearly enjoying the fact that he was having a conversation with the three older kids. "But as far as Duffy goes, it really is funny. Funny as in cute, I mean. You can call an old lady Daphne, but you're not that old yet, Duffy."

This made everyone laugh and broke the ice completely. Flash was satisfied as he watched Duffy and the three boys chatting away. At least right now, Duffy was actually somewhat happy again. Now the next thing they had to face was getting Duffy to go back to school.

"So, how did your first day go?" LJ asked Kit Walker when they were walking towards the Central City High lunch area together. It was a bright and sunny day but not very warm yet. Most students were still having their lunch inside in the cafeteria but as LJ had guessed, Kit wasn't a big fan of hanging around in crowded, loud rooms when there was the option of having a quiet lunch outside in the fresh air.

"It was okay, I guess." Kit shrugged and put his tray down on one of the white round tables. "It's hard to be the new kid in school. It's even harder to explain to a bunch of city kids why and how I was living in a cave in Africa not so long ago."

"Oh, yeah." Grinning, LJ let himself fall down in one of the uncomfortable white chairs. "I can see how that would be a bit challenging. How did they take it?"

"Are you kidding? I didn't tell them that, of course. I'm not going around announcing that my father is the Ghost Who Walks!" Kit looked rather horrified at the thought. It made LJ laugh. The two of them had become firm friends right from the start and LJ was hoping that Kit, along with his father, would stay in Central City for a good time longer.

"Well, your dad is not the only one who's a legend", LJ commented, shifting around on his seat for a comfortable position. "I wonder how Duffy's day went?"

"Actually, Duffy's day went great. Or at least, better than she expected." With a thud, a grinning Duffy put her tray down next to theirs and threw herself on the chair between them. "And actually, my dad being this great legend really helped for once. Everyone wants to be friends with Flash Gordon's daughter."

"Some friends they are", Kit drily commented. "I'd rather have friends who like me for being me instead of friends who like me for being my father's son."

"I said they want to be friends with me, but I never said they're my friends, did I?" Duffy replied, shoving a french fry into her mouth. She'd never been a big fan of school, but going to Central City High now had turned out to be quite good for her. It had distracted her a bit from everything that was going on in her life right now and apart from locking herself into the bathroom to cry early this morning she'd been rather content and more or less happy and chatty, which definitely was a good thing.

"Well, good for you, then", LJ replied, stealing a fry from her plate. "Besides, you've already got the two of us. We're your friends. Actually, we're your live-in friends, and I bet not many people have that. Although, I have to admit, some of those cheerleader chicks are really hot. Many you could use your new-found popularity to score your new best friends some hot dates, huh?"

"You want me to get you dates?!" Duffy asked, sounding astonished.

"There no harm in asking!" LJ quickly defended himself. "I mean, I..."

"Whatever are they doing?" Kit suddenly asked, pointing in the direction of a large white van that was driving on school grounds towards the open lunch area.

LJ and Duffy didn't know either. Usually there were no strange vehicles on school grounds, especially in the lunch area. And the way they were driving made it very clear that something wasn't right.

"Maybe they're lost or something", LJ said, getting up from his seat.

"Lost or not, they're pretty reckless drivers, if you ask me." Kit got up too. "You stay here, Duffy. We'll point them in the right direction before they crash right into the lunch area or something."

"Guys..." Suddenly feeling alarmed without quite knowing why, Duffy looked up. "Maybe you shouldn't!"

They gave her a look and she knew what they were thinking. That she was being overprotective and overly careful because of what happened to her mother. The thought of Dale brought tears to her eyes once again and she quickly looked away and let the matter slide. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

But maybe she wasn't. Because now the van's doors opened and two men in gray suits came out, wearing strange old-fashioned hats and sunglasses. Kit said something to them but the men didn't even react or reply. They just kept walking towards the two boys. And somehow, those two persons didn't feel like humans at all. From the humans around her, Duffy usually got some kind of sensation. But these two just seemed to be two empty shells.

"Careful!" Duffy shouted, leaping to her feet. "They're not human!"

"What!?" Kit asked, stepping back immediately.

But it was already too late. Those two men seemed to have superhuman strength – one of them grabbed LJ and one of them grabbed Kit and no matter how those two fought, they just couldn't get free again. And since LJ was a martial arts expert and Kit had many years of jungle training it made Duffy realize just how strong those men really were.

"Kit! LJ!"

"Stay away, Duffy! Just stay the hell away and get help!" Kit yelled at her, struggling against his captor's iron grip.

"What do you want from us!?" LJ panted, kicking and screaming, but getting no result at all. There was a lot of noise inside of the school cafeteria – some popular kid celebrating his birthday, having everyone's attention. Which was too bad for the three kids outside.

The man didn't answer but in the struggle with LJ he lost his sunglasses which revealed his eyes – empty and white, just white – it looked creepy as hell!

Then the two creatures dragged Kit and LJ over to the van and just dumped them inside, closing the heavy doors right in the two boys' faces. They immediately started banging against the doors. Forgetting to be careful, Duffy now raced across the lunch area but she was too late – the van was already taking off real fast, and the only thing Duffy could do was to memorize the license plate.

Suddenly one of the teachers came running across the lawn towards Duffy, coming to an abrupt stop next to her, looking around in alarm.

"What happened here, Daphne?!"

Now that was a really good question!

"Excuse me", she muttered, slowly turning around and without bothering to answer the woman's question. "I think I need to call my dad right now!"

And with that, Duffy started running towards the school building.


	6. Rescue

**Rescue**

„I'm sorry, Daddy, I should have done more!"

Flash looked up from the controls of the spaceship for a second to give his daughter a reassuring smile. What could she have done, tackle two superstrong frostmen all on her own? He was glad she hadn't tried that because then she would probably have ended up as a prisoner, too – or worse. But Duffy being Duffy, there was no way of knowing what she'd do or how she'd react. He was just glad that for once, she'd done the sensible thing.

„You've done well, Duff. Thanks to you, we've got the licence plate number and the Phantom was able to find out that Ming must be hiding somewhere around this area."

„Using my powers, I could have..."

Duffy's voice trailed off, but the meaning was clear – she regretted not being more experienced with her powers and not having tried them out more before. Well, there was always time for that tomorrow. If wasn't like a psychic could work much with the brains of a couple of frostmen anyway.

„Duffy, sit down again and strap yourself in. There was really nothing else you could have done, powers or no powers. You..."

Competely ignoring his orders to sit down and fasten her seatbelt, she cried out, holding her head. Everyone was looking at her now.

„Actually, Daddy, there might be something I can do to help!" she proudly announced. „I just felt it – a bit like a jolt in my head – and I think I can sense them. Kit and LJ, I mean. Steer her a little more to the right, Dad. And go down a bit more. Yes, that's it. I think I've got it. They're very close!"

Everyone was watching her, and then the Phantom quietly spoke. „If she's sure she can point us in the right direction, then we should follow the lead, Flash."

„I don't think we need to circle around any more, Phantom", Flash replied, looking at the computer screen in front of him and then out of the windows of the ship he was flying. „Look what's down there, everyone!"

„The old high-security prison!" Lothar called out. „Of course! We should have guessed right away! This is the perfect hiding place for Ming and also the perfect place to hide two prisoners!"

Satisfied to finally have found Ming's hiding place, Flash brought the ship down in some distance. He knew it was probably a trap Ming had set for them, but to get Kit and LJ safely back, they had to play by Ming's rules for a while until they could manage to spin things around again to their advantage.

„Kshin, you better stay here with the ship", Mandrake ordered, getting out of the vehicle.

„You too, Duffy", Flash said, shooting his daughter a warning glance. „And no 'buts'. This time I'm not letting you get involved in anything dangerous!"

Sulking, Duffy watched the four men leave. Leaving her behind here with little Kshin! She was the daughter of Flash Gordon, she could have done something!

One hour later, she felt restless, like something had gone wrong. And Kshin was worried too, as he kept telling her over and over again.

„Please, Duffy, do something!" he finally begged her. „They shouldn't be gone that long! Something must have happened to them!" And then, seeing her taking Flash's seat at the controls of the ship, Kshin gasped. „Uh, Duffy, what exactly are you doing?!"

„Rescuing our parents!" she simply replied, nervously biting her lip. After all, she was Flash Gordon's daughter. She'd flown a space ship before. She could totally do this.

It was the perfect timing and one of these situations were everything just worked out well. Flash, Lothar, Mandrake and the Phantom had been caught in Ming's trap and had been about to be electrocuted but luckily LJ and Kit had escaped from their cell and had managed to stop Ming from using the old generator, and, in doing so, saving the lives of the four adults. Then there had been a huge fight in the inner courtyard when suddenly Flash's spaceship had appeared over the old prison building, with Duffy firing laser shots at the ice robots and frostmen. At Ming, too – but he was rather quick to escape, seeing the old generator was close to overloading, and, as LJ had put it, things would soon get rather 'explosive'.

„What did I tell you about staying behind with the ship!?" Flash panted, climbing inside the ship first and immediately pushing Duffy out of the pilot seat.

The ship rose high up in the air, now with Flash working the controls, and another ship was quickly departing too – Ming! And then the whole prison exploded, starting with the tower that had held the old generator. Flash and the others watched in silence as the massive building way beneath them exploded.

„If I had stayed behind with the ship..."

Duffy didn't need to say it out loud. If she had stayed behind, both she and Kshin would have had lost everyone at once. There was a dead silence on board the ship.

"Ming won't give up", Lothar finally stated, watching Ming's ship disappear in the distance. "Not now, not ever."

"And as long as there's a breath in me, I will stop him!" Flash immediately replied. "He will not ruin any more lives, he will not wreck any more families, and he will certainly not get his hands on our planet."

"It's all our fight", the Phantom agreed. "We've seen what he's capable of. Ming must be stopped, no matter what."

"Each of us has something to offer in the fight against Ming the Merciless", Flash nodded. "As of now, we're a team – a family. And we will do down in history as the Defenders of the Earth!"

At this, everyone was cheering, and Duffy, she was smiling and cheering too, suddenly feeling not so lonely and not so lost anymore. Yes, Dale was gone and with her, a huge part of Duffy's life. Nothing would ever be the same again. But at the same time, Duffy had also found new friends, other people to trust, and she had a new goal in life that would keep her focused. She would be strong and she would be brave and in the end, she would make sure good would triumph over evil and Dale Gordon had not died in vain.


End file.
